The early modern world
Renaissance
c. 1400–1600
A revival of classical learning that put human experience, observation and perspective at the center of art.
Overview
Beginning in Florence around 1400, artists studied ancient sculpture and the natural world with new intensity. Linear perspective, worked out by Brunelleschi and described by Alberti, let painters build convincing three-dimensional space, while the study of anatomy and light gave figures weight and presence.
The decades around 1500, often called the High Renaissance, brought the mature work of Leonardo, Michelangelo and Raphael in Florence and Rome. North of the Alps, painters such as Jan van Eyck and Albrecht Dürer used oil paint and printmaking to capture surfaces and light in extraordinary detail.
What defines it
- Linear perspective and consistent light
- Human anatomy studied from life
- Classical subjects and balanced, harmonious composition
Works to know
- The Arnolfini Portrait
- The Birth of Venus
- David
- Mona Lisa
- The School of Athens